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Friday Feature: Potential Specialty Crop – Florida Tea Production

By Doug Mayo 

Researchers at the University of Florida’s Horticulture Department have been evaluating the possibility of tea production in Florida.  This week’s featured video was published by UF/IFAS to share the highlights of the trails that have been conducted south of Gainesville, at the Plant Research and Education Center.  As popular as specialty teas have become in the US, there may be potential for this alternative crop in the region. Tea is in the same plant family as camellias, so there is hope that suitable lines can be found for further testing.  At this point, scientists are simply trying to identify cultivars that are adapted to this climate, but have also begun working on possible production practices.

Source : ufl.edu

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What’s at Stake in Every Slice | On The Brink: Episode 7

Video: What’s at Stake in Every Slice | On The Brink: Episode 7

Six hundred Canadian farms grow grain for Warburton's under custom contract — and that partnership exists because of Canadian plant breeding. Now the man responsible for maintaining it is sounding the alarm.

Adam Dyck is the program manager for Warburton's Canada, a company that produces over two million loaves of bread a day for more than 20,000 retail locations across the UK. He's watched Canadian wheat deliver thirty years of yield gains and quality advancements that make it worth sourcing at scale — and shipping across the Atlantic. But he's also watching the investment conditions that produced those gains come under pressure. Dyck makes the case for a new funding mechanism that brings both public and private dollars into wheat breeding before Canada's competitive window starts to close.